When the Greek government last month accepted a €652m bid for the state gambling company Opap from a Czech-led private equity consortium, it highlighted a new appetite among European buyout firms to look to the troubled southern European economy.

Other bidding groups in the country's first major privatisation included BC Partners and TPG Capital, and the US hedge fund Third Point, both of which lost out to the Emma Delta consortium in the asset sale, which saw a 33% stake in the business sold. The consortium includes Jiri Smejc, a partner in the Czech private equity fund PPF Partners, and Greek businessman George Melissanidis.